Book description
What is an avatar? Why are there nearly a billion of them, and
who is using them? Do avatars impact our real lives, or are they
just video game conceits? Is an avatar an inspired rendering of its
creator’s inner self, or is it just one among millions of
anonymous vehicles clogging the online freeways? Can we use our
avatars to really connect with people, or do they just isolate us?
And as we become more like our avatars do they become more like
us?
In I, Avatar, Mark Stephen Meadows answers some of
these questions, but more importantly, he raises hundreds of others
in his exploration of avatars and the fascinating possibilities
they hold. His examination of avatars through the lenses of
sociology, psychology, politics, history, and art, he will change
the way you look at even a simple online profile and revolutionize
the idea of avatars as part of our lives, whether first or
second.
Table of contents
- Copyright
- The Strange Migration
- On Pigs, The WELL, and 1992
- What It Is, Part One: Mario, The Sims and World of Warcraft
- What It Is, Part Two: The Three White Girls from YouTube
- What It Is, Part Three: A Point of View
- What It Is, Part Four: A Simple Character
- “Why Don’t You Spend Time Talking to People in Person?”
- Diving into the Deep End
- The Roles of Social Worlds and the Rules of Game Worlds
- The Assumption of The Mask
- Alts, Newbs, and How a Fisherman Gets Fresh Fish
- Fur vs. Gor
- Virtual Wars
- Rituals and Archetypes
- The Dive into the Deep End Continues
- On Drinking Virtual Wine and the Grounding of Belief
- The Night of the Dance
- The Morning After
- Virtual Work
- The Suits Cometh
- How Avatars Affect the Real World
- Happiness Is a Warm Gun
- A Few Notes on Griefing and Morality
- Gunid’s Babies
- Why?
- Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Karate Is Not Sexy
- Car Is Avatar Is Prosthetic
- “Where There Is Id There Will Be Ego.”
- Kajira, Raddick, and Involuntary Speed Dating Services
- Celebrities and Millions of Us
- Auto Portraits
- Do We Count Avatars or People?
- Autonomous Avatars and the Very Present Future
- The American Nightmare
- The Children of the Strange Migration
- The Isles of the Blessed
- A Gallery of Avatars
- Thanks and Acknowledgements
Product information
- Title: I, Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a Second Life
- Author(s):
- Release date: December 2007
- Publisher(s): New Riders
- ISBN: 9780321550231
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